1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector for providing an electrical connecting between a telephone network and a customer, and more particularly, to a network interface device attachable to an intermediate field of a building entrance protector which additionally provides a convenient disconnect function so that the customer can be disconnected from the telephone network, and a standard telephone may be plugged into the network interface device for line testing purposes.
2. Description of the Background Art
Network interface units constitute the separation between the telephone company network and a customer's equipment. In buildings having multiple subscribers, the network interface unit may comprise a building entrance protector, which is typically installed in the basement of the building.
One example of such a building entrance protector is shown in FIGS. 10 and 11. The building entrance protector 100 includes a box 102 having a lid 104 pivotally attached thereto to form an enclosure. A cable 106 from the telephone company central office is fed to the interior of the box 102. The cable 106 includes multiple pairs of wires which are connected to protector modules arranged on a protector field 108. The connection is typically made using a wire wrap 110 on the underside of the protector field 108. The protector modules provide protection against electrical surges for the customer.
From the protector modules, the wire pairs are connected to selected terminals 112a on the underside of an intermediate field 112, commonly known as a 66-type block. A cable 114 from the customers is also fed to the interior of the box 102. The cable 114 may typically include twenty-five wire pairs entering into the box 102 through an RJ21 connector 116. Wire pairs from the customers are connected to selected other terminals 112b on the underside of the intermediate field 112.
In order to interconnect the network side terminals 112a to the customer side terminals 112b, it is known to use bridging clips 118 which are placed over adjacent terminals 112a, 112b on the upper side of the intermediate field 112, as shown in FIG. 10. A pair of bridging clips 118 are used to connect the pair of terminals 112a on the network side to the pair of terminals 112b of the customer, in order to establish an electrical connection. In order to disconnect the customer side equipment from the network side equipment, it is necessary to remove the bridging clips 118 from the terminals 112a, 112b.
Another method of connecting the network side terminals 112a to the customer side terminals 112b is to use jumper wires 120, as shown in FIG. 12. However, unlike bridging clips 118 which are limited to use on adjacent terminals, jumper wires 120 may be used to interconnect non-adjacent pairs of terminals.
At times, a problem with the telephone service of the customer will develop. It is useful for the customer to be able to plug a working telephone into a test jack in order to determine whether the problem exists in the lines of the telephone company or the lines of the customer. However, the method of interconnection using bridging clips does not provide a mechanism for allowing the customer to plug a working telephone into the network for testing purposes.
Also, a tenant may relocate within the same building from one office or apartment to another, and the tenant would like to retain the same phone number. This creates a problem since the telephone network wires associated with that particular phone number do not change, and thus their position on the intermediate block does not change. However, the tenant is now in a new location, and the wires from that new location are connected to different terminals on the intermediate block which are not immediately adjacent to the network terminals as they may have been before. Therefore, bridging clips can no longer be used to connect the network terminals to the customer terminals, since the bridging clips have no ability to cross-connect non-adjacent terminals. Instead, it becomes necessary for the telephone technician to place jumper wires on the terminals of the intermediate block in order to connect the customer to the telephone network. However, this method of interconnection using jumper wires also does not provide a mechanism for allowing the customer to plug a working telephone into the network for testing purposes.
There is a need in the art for a network interface device which can quickly and easily connect the customer to the telephone network, even if the customer's intermediate field terminals are not exactly adjacent to the telephone network's intermediate field terminals, while also providing a disconnect feature whereby the customer can be disconnected from the telephone network, and a standard telephone may be plugged into the network interface device for line testing purposes.